The CAMLR Convention Area is divided into nine MPA planning domains. These were defined during the 2011 CCAMLR workshop on marine protected areas (SC-CAMLR-XXX, Annex 6).
The division into these domains provides a mechanism by which to plan and report on the development of MPAs and as a means to organise future activities related to this effort. The planning domains are intended to reflect the scale and location of current and planned research efforts in order to be helpful as reporting and auditing units. The boundaries of the planning domains are not boundaries of proposed MPAs and are not intended to confine or restrict research or other work to develop MPAs.
- Domain 1: Western Peninsula – South Scotia Arc
- Domain 2: North Scotia Arc
- Domain 3: Weddell Sea
- Domain 4: Bouvet Maud
- Domain 5: Crozet – del Cano
- Domain 6: Kerguelen Plateau
- Domain 7: Eastern Antarctica
- Domain 8: Ross Sea
- Domain 9: Amundsen – Bellingshausen
A map of the CAMLR Convention Area, onto which a layer of MPA planning domains can be applied, can be accessed via the Online GIS.
There has been extensive discussion of MPAs in the Scientific Committee and the Commission in recent years. These discussions are very difficult to summarise, however, all of the meeting reports of the Scientific Committee and the Commission are publicly available. The discussions in the Scientific Committee, focussed on the planning domains, are usually in section 5 of its report. For examples see the discussions from 2012 in the SC-CAMLR-XXXI Report , paragraphs 5.21 to 5.30 and from 2014 in the SC-CAMLR-XXXIII Report , paragraphs 5.11 to 5.45.